Huge queues in shopping centers. The world went shopping: gifts for loved ones and other things (sometimes out of courtesy). Is there such a thing as a perfect gift? If we look into the economic literature, we will come to the conclusion that the answer is: yes, money! This is if we talk about adults.

• HotNews.ro also had a slightly different story last year when we mentioned the Red Tornado.

The perfect gift is the one you want. It is if you like to receive or if you want something. Many of us are satisfied with donations to various associations that really need money to help people or animals.

Money is the perfect gift for adults, the economics literature says, if you don’t know exactly what your loved ones want. If you know, it is equivalent to giving them money. Another solution is vouchers.

*One of the most interesting and funny books on this topic is Scroogenomics: Why You Shouldn’t Buy Holiday Gifts by Joel Waldfogel.

The blouse, the shoes, the jewelry, the perfume all help, it’s true that the gesture counts, but if they’re not desirable, they’re likely to end up in the trash some day. After all, this is also a problem of environmental protection.

It often happens that those who receive gifts do not really want them. Like I said last year, maybe they don’t like the blouse they bought, or maybe it’s not the item they really wanted because it’s from a different range.

Joel Waldfogel explains the price phenomenon economically. If you go to a store and see a blouse you like for X lei, you buy it because you think it’s worth that amount. If a relative went to the same store and bought the same blouse in a different color and offered it to you, even though it has the same price, it’s not worth as much to you because you didn’t want it in that color.

He explained in much more detail, but concluded that the transaction effectively destroyed the value of the product.

This is especially a problem if you bought these gifts with a credit card. You are in debt for something thrown away, that is, worthless, even if you gave money.

If you can’t afford to give them money, you’d better think about a gift of experience, as detailed by HotNews.ro in another article: Better gift ideas than physical ones

Psychologists say that people want gifts that will be useful and meet their needs. For example, someone may not want a French press or a coffee maker. Opening the gift might make her smile for a moment, but she’ll enjoy using it every morning. Then he will understand that it was a good gift.

A greener and more ecological Christmas

A lot is thrown away after Christmas, from code boxes and wrappers to Christmas trees. Maybe we should think about the environment if we still want to buy gifts.

In the article of the British press, it is recommended for Christmas due to the cost of living (inflation) to give a present that you received in the past but did not throw away, go to the forest for natural decorations, make your own wreath, develop a food plan to avoid food waste and find alternative paper for packaging, as most paper on the market also contains plastic, making it difficult to recycle.

It is recommended to think about quality, not quantity. Maybe one idea is a “Secret Santa” to get everyone to buy less. You have to think about what and where the gifts are made from, that is, think about ethics, in the sense that the products must be sustainable and environmentally friendly, that is, toys made from recycled materials, wood, etc.

Ditch the big brands in favor of alternative, more sustainable ones.

Another tip: give homemade gifts, impressions or your time instead of “things”.

If you have an artificial Christmas tree, you should be happy about it every year.

Stores know how to make us throw money down the drain

Stores know how to trick us when it comes to shopping from the moment we step foot on their doorstep. It’s all marketing.

First, red for sale signs attract attention, as neuroscientists such as Christian Elger have observed.

In an interview with Deutsche Welle, he mentioned that he had experimented with red signs that actually advertised normal prices in a store.

After all, these products were the best sellers even though there were no discounts. Stores also use music to create a pleasant atmosphere, in this case something with a touch of Christmas: bells, fun. When you feel comfortable, you don’t think about the pain of spending money.

Other techniques include:

• The idea of ​​rarity. Marketers have created a sense of urgency to get us to buy. “Goods on sale for a short period of time.” “The package will be gone soon.” “Limited quantity of goods left.” Each of these ideas forces us to make quick decisions. We are usually wrong.

• Deceptive prices. Restaurants inflate the prices of some menu items, even if they know that few people will buy them. Setting the highest price makes the others look very cheap. In retail, this is done by setting a significantly higher price than similar products next to it.

• Cards for shops. These cards offer a percentage discount on our purchases. This works well for issuers: studies show you’ll spend twice as much with that card in hand. In addition, they will collect all your personal data and know your consumption habits.

We will not go into detail about them, because you already know them. Find more in Joshua Becker’s book More from Less.